YMCA of the East Bay to Host Upcoming Annual Meeting & Volunteer Recognition Ceremony Honoring Volunteers

OAKLAND, CA – October 19, 2015 – “These are challenging times for many not-for-profit service organizations. It is easy to feel overwhelmed in helping so many people in need. But the help of volunteers can make a tremendous difference. Each year the YMCA of the East Bay celebrates those volunteers who step up to help,” said Robert Wilkins, President & CEO of the YMCA of the East Bay.

Celebrating their social responsibility initiative “Togetherhood,” the YMCA of the East Bay will recognize exemplary volunteers from a number of organizations throughout the region who are strengthening their community. “During this past year, our ongoing volunteerism initiative focused on encouraging the public to volunteer a few of their hours to help ANY worthy organization that is doing good in their community,” said Wilkins. “As we do every year, The YMCA of the East Bay will once again celebrate volunteers from nonprofits and organizations throughout the East Bay.”

Scheduled for Thursday, October 22, the awards ceremony will take place during the YMCA’s 136th annual meeting at the Oakland Marriott from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM. KRON 4’s Terisa Estacio will host a program that will also feature local youth artists and performers: Jacob Williams, a youth actor and an environmental activist from the Bay Area who attends the Oakland School for the Arts, will perform two dramatic monologues during the evening. Erin Walker, an Oakland native and a recent 2015 Stanford Jazz Workshop Vocal participant will lend her talents to the evening in song and is said to ‘sing like a nightingale’. Pianist Paul Adan, a member of the Berkeley Jazz School’s Studio Band and an alternate in the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars, will also perform throughout the evening.

“The 2015 ‘Diffy’ (You Are The Difference) Awards allow us to personally honor these valuable volunteers,” said Wilkins. This year’s honorees will receive a hand-crafted metal statuette that is shaped to resemble a figure inviting the viewer to enter. It is meant to symbolize the people who offer their time and resources to help and support those less fortunate.

The YMCA of the East Bay volunteerism initiative community partners include: Kiwanis Service Club, Let’s Do Lunch Hayward... and Breakfast Too, Richmond Community Foundation, Richmond Police Department, Senior Support Program of the Tri-Valley, YES Nature to Neighborhoods and KRON 4.

A full list of award recipients will be released at the awards ceremony. For more information, please visit: Twitter: @YMCAEastBay, www.facebook.com/YMCAoftheEastBay or http://www.ymcaeastbay.org/

Further information and biographies of the highly talented youth performers may be obtained, upon request from Gallen.Neilly.

*Media are invited to attend, please contact Gallen.Neilly for entry. (The public may purchase tickets, see: http://www.ymcaeastbay.org/Our_Focus/Social_Responsibility/Community_Events/Annual_Dinner_and_Volunteer_Awards.htm)

###

About the YMCA of the East Bay:

At the YMCA of the East Bay, strengthening community is our cause. As one of Northern California’s leading nonprofit organizations, the YMCA of the East Bay is committed to helping people and communities to learn, grow and thrive through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Our contributions are both far-reaching and intimate—from nurturing the potential of every child and teen with academic enrichment programs, improving community health and well-being through our Diabetes Prevention Initiative, and supporting and serving our neighbors with a multitude of volunteer opportunities. The YMCA of the East Bay ensures that everyone has the opportunity to become healthier, more confident, connected and secure. We focus our community strengthening strategies in metropolitan Oakland, the city of Richmond and throughout West Contra Costa County, as well as across southern Alameda County in the cities of Hayward, Dublin, Pleasanton and Fremont.